Face it, Tiger You Just Hit the Jackpot
by wrecked apocolypse
Summary: Beckett's team is called in to investigate a murder at the New York Comicon. They find out what happens when people test the limits of fiction. Caskett. Rated M mainly for gore.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the phenomenal characters from Castle but I do own this shameful tid bit of story. _

**Chapter 1**

* * *

She is _definitely_ an INFJ, he thought. A little introverted and secretive, a lot intuitive, always self sacrificial to benefit others, and her decisions were calculated but occasionally risky. They were all the qualities that made her _extraordinary_ to him.

He glanced over the magazine he was holding, the front cover of which was turned over, creasing the binding and making it scaled to the size of a single page: all to get a view of a certain female detective. The sheet at the forefront was entitled _Personality Test: Find Your Fit._ His eyes lingered over the page watching her wrists fluidly work a pen over paper. The burning sensation made her turn her head towards his propped frame. His legs were cradled by a separate metal chair, offering him the opportunity to stretch out a bit. She twirled slightly in her chair, making eye contact briefly before he jerked the paper back up to cover his drifting eyes.

"Castle," The name was soft yet stern from her flush lips; her pen agitatedly fell from her fingers under the dim desk lamp. "What have I told you about watching me?" Beckett's full auburn hair gathered into wispy flips and tangents: playful, despite her slightly scrutinizing expression. In mock surrender, he straightened his posture and lifted his hands, "it's _creepy,_" he mocked. "But actually," he trailed off, leaning his elbows on the side of her desk, "I was studying you." His eyes gleamed and an eyebrow was raised in intrigue.

Detective Beckett frowned in light distaste, "even creepier." She shuddered to add effect.

"Well I think I just may have cracked one of New York's finest detective's personalities." His voice dripped with charm and the usual interest. In response, Kate sat back with her arms folded across her chest. The olive colored v-neck blouse she wore pooled at her hips before it met the chocolate brown leather of her belt and deep blue of her jeans. She licked her lips in curiosity while the dark brown leather jacket draped over her chair squeaked. "Really," she exaggerated the length of the word skeptically while crossing her legs slowly. Rick's eyes traveled the length of her legs, occasionally giving himself a mental reminder of what would happen if he were caught.

He cleared his throat casually and held up the magazine.

"I've got you pegged."

"Oh?"

"Take a look. It's circled." He smiled in triumph, urging the thin paper edges towards her.

Beckett's slender hand slid the magazine from his grasp allowing her smoky eyes to scan through the article. It was just a list of personality types as dubbed by the _Myers-Briggs Type Indicator_. Under each four letter type was a description of attributes depicting how each type handled certain situations or how they lived their lives in general. Circled lazily in black ink was the paragraph:

_**INFJ: **__INFJs tend to be quiet and reserved. They generally prefer interacting with a few close friends rather than a wide circle of acquaintances, and they expend energy in social situations (whereas extroverts gain energy). They tend to be more abstract than concrete, focusing their attention on the big picture rather than the details, and on future possibilities rather than immediate realities. INFJs tend to value personal considerations above objective criteria. When making decisions, they often give more weight to social implications than to logic. They also tend to plan their activities and make decisions early. They derive a sense of control through predictability. _

The detective leaned towards Castle, closing the distance slowly and bewitchingly, keeping her eyes locked on the page. Richard Castle's breath hitched as if a valve had been cut off.

Amidst the occupied desks of policeman, heads began popping up dangerously to peruse the situation, two of those familiar. Esposito tapped Ryan eagerly on the chest to grab his attention. Both were wearing the same expression: a mix of shock, interest, and horror.

Delicate digits wrapped gently around the collar of the charming writer's crisp burgundy shirt, the buttons popped characteristically to enhance his appeal. Her eyes finally jerked away from the reading and onto his solid features; perfect teeth encased her own bottom lip in a seductive caress. The silence that flooded the building was minuscule compared to the mounting tension. It was as if no one could breath and all they could do was stare. Her cocoa eyes fluttered down nervously beneath thick, alluring lashes shyly and then:

"Introverted?!" Castle jerked back from surprise, her sexiness turning into fuming hate speech. The onlookers surrounding them kept quiet, attempting to look less inconspicuous. "I _expend_ energy," she quoted while letting go of his collar. "So basically, you think I'm a killjoy?" Beckett's inquiry put fear into Castle; her eyes looked down at him dryly and her lips were pressed into a thin line. How should he answer that?

"No..." he hesitantly stated. "What I was saying was a good thing." Soothingly, his voice delivered the conversation out of the spot light.

In truth, Beckett knew he was right on the money with his diagnoses but she never missed a moment to play him. Actually, she was impressed at how easily he could identify her type. She'd taken similar tests before and had gotten the same result. It was known as the _Protector_ type and it suited her well.

And although she was putting him down for calling her introverted, he was right. She only opened up whenever she wanted, about whatever she wanted, and to whoever she wanted.

Her eyes scanned over the page again; Castle leaned in closer out of curiosity. His eyes awaited her next move. But after a moment of silence, he spoke.

"You could always size me up. I mean it's only fair." The words spilled from his grinning lips quietly, eliciting a shifty glance from the detective.

"You're disgus-," just as Detective Beckett was about to finish her statement, the one person who was undisturbed by the duo's show casually walked out of his office. His bald head shimmered slightly with a bit of light from his office window.

"Save it for the slumber party." Captain Montgomery strode over to Castle and Beckett, the latter of which was straightening up, becoming attentive to what he had to say. "You're headed to West 34th street. Go check out the convention center down that way."

"Sir?" Beckett acknowledged, but she wanted more details.

"They just called and said this would be up your alley. Here." Montgomery handed her a small piece of paper with the address to the convention center and shrugged while walking back towards his office, "now I've got more work to do, so get going." Beckett nodded, glancing at the other half of her team.

"Esposito, you and Ryan meet us at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown." She glanced at the paper again while the two she addressed grabbed their jackets, "it's at 635 West 34th."

They shook their heads in affirmation and started on their way. Beckett grabbed her own jacket and slid her arms in the sleeves while she turned towards Castle, "let's go _Mr. Personality_." Like a dog to his owner, the writer packed up and closed the distance, so he could walk beside her.

The elevator welcomed the pair in with a dismal ding.

"Hope you're ready for a freak show," he remarked with a casual grin before watching the doors slide shut.

* * *

A massive line had formed itself in front of the bright yellow crime scene tape just outside of the convention center. Most of the mass were outlandishly dressed in costumes resembling anything from Wookies to Sailor Moon. Most of them were agitated, sitting in the cold and trying to find out why they couldn't get into the center.

Through the taped off path, Castle and Beckett walked; they ignored most of the angered and befuddled onlookers' questions, but Castle took the liberty to occasionally point out the stranger outfits among them.

A policeman opened the door for the two after the detective flashed her badge at him. The empty booths were full of color on their own.

Kate's eyes wandered the room recording details as she took mental notes. The words: _New York Comicon _were strewn across banners that hung from the ceiling, posters that clung to the walls, and pillars that supported the structure. Booths full of sci-fi movie posters, video game ads, and shelves stocked with graphic novels lined the entirety of the convention center floor. Colorful artwork was displayed down one alley and at the back of the spacious room was a small stage that would've accommodated a panel of people.

She looked to the front, however, and saw Lainie on a hydraulic lift. She was examining something hanging from the ceiling. It wasn't a banner, but rather a body hanging upside down by a net. The clothing was bizarre. Black skin-tight patent leather ran the whole way around the body. It was a single suit with an extremely low-cut v-shaped neck line that perfectly encased the victims rounded breasts. White fur capped off the wrists, collar and shins of the outfit. What's more, there was a black bag around her head, tied at the neck with something stuck in the rope.

"Janitor found her this morning," Lainie called from above, stopping to peer down at them. "Someone's getting his statement right now. I can't tell much about what happened right now, but she's got no identification besides this picture tucked in the rope here." She gestured to the Polaroid.

"We can tell more about her once we get her on the ground." There was an assistant on the lift with Lainie who helped her get the body down from the metal rafters. The lift was lowered as Castle and Beckett made their way closer. The body of the woman was slim and curvy.

"She's rigid, and given the temperature, she's probably been dead for about twelve hours, give or take." The victim's black gloved hands were raised above her head from hanging.

"Any idea about the COD," Beckett inquired while Castle gave a closer look to the body.

"I'll have to remove the bag on her head to get a full idea, but right now I see a single gunshot wound to the chest," she pointed her gloved index finger at the small bullet hole. "It went clean through, though." The assistant helped Lainie turn the body so the others could see the exit wound in between her shoulder blades.

"There's a lot of bruising around the wound. Point blank?" Castle asked.

"It's possible," the dark skinned coroner shrugged, "CSU's been scoping the area, but they haven't found the bullet. My guess would be a small caliber by the size of the wound." She pulled the flimsy picture from the grasp of the rope and handed it to Kate, "what do you make of this?"

The picture depicted a pretty, young woman in the same costume as the victim, with white hair and a black mask that covered her dark, smiling eyes. At the bottom of the Polaroid was the name _Felicia Hardy_.

While the pair skimmed over the picture, Lainie was untying the rope around the victim's neck. The bag itself was blood soaked, but the blood had since dried through the fabric. Carefully, the coroner lifted the bag away from the victim's face.

"Okay, woah," she was taken aback by what she saw and motioned for the others to come see. Beckett's eyes widened as she saw that the whole face of the woman had been removed. It looked as though they had sliced away at her like a loaf of bread, exposing the entire muscular structure of the eyes, mouth and nose. Her long white-blond hair was covered in rouge at the hair line where pieces of her skin still remained. Castle turned away in disgust, looking back at the picture.

"Green eyes," he trailed off. His downcast glance showed displeasure and sadness.

"A crime of hate," Beckett turned towards Castle; she could sense that he was disturbed, "you alright? This job is pretty," she paused to put her hand on his shoulder, "pretty tough."

"I was thinking," Castle started. Beckett wondered if he had heard any of her sympathy, yet she humored him, "wouldn't you need a key to get a body in a large scale center like this during the off hours?"

"So you think we're looking at a worker?"

"Not necessarily, it could be someone who has connections." Shortly after he spoke, Ryan and Esposito walked up.

"Janitor said he found the body this morning while he checked that the ceiling banners were secured," Esposito stated. "He said just him and another maintenance worker was there at the time, but the other worker had left right before the center was supposed to open which wasn't long before he found the body. He also said he didn't recognize him. Maybe a new guy?"

"Did you ask him for a description?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, but it lacks a lot of detail." Ryan opened his small black notebook to the description. "White male, around five-five, chubby, with circular glasses," he put the book back in his jacket pocket and furthered the description, "he said he had a dust mask on and their standard uniform." He pointed towards the janitor, who was being busied by other policeman, for reference. "He told us that he figured he was just cleaning up."

"So he found the body before anyone was let inside, right?" Castle inquired, looking back at the picture in his hand.

"That's what he says," Esposito confirmed.

"Alright, Good work. We're gonna head outside and ask around the line to see if anyone knows our vic." Beckett gestured towards the picture, "We'll let you know if anything turns up."

The time Kate and Rick had spent inside significantly wore the line down. Most of the freakish onlookers had gotten bored with waiting and had left, but despite the general feeling of the crowd, there were still a few that stayed.

They hit them all up with the question: _Do you know this girl?_ But no one had an answer besides _Black Cat. _They had asked the entire crowd and nothing. Feeling defeated, Beckett sighed, "maybe anyone that did know her already left. We didn't find a cell phone on our victim, so we wouldn't know if anyone's tried to contact her," she stopped and turned towards Castle who was approaching a young woman, sitting on the side walk against the wall of the center with her legs pulled to her chest.

"You alright?" he asked with genuine care lacing his deep voice. She resembled Alexis in a lot of ways. She had her same red hair, porcelain skin tone, and she looked to be around the same age: maybe a year or two older.

The girl looked up at him with damp eyes, her cheeks flushed, probably from the cold and the crying. "I was waiting for someone," she stated feebly.

At that moment, the detective walked up, her heels clanging against the cement sidewalk quietly.

"Is this who you were waiting for?" She asked with a downward gaze.

The slim girl rose up slowly, putting one hand over her small abdomen. She took the picture from Kate and nodded, "yeah, why what's happened to her? Is something wrong?" She began to sound a bit frantic.

Castle took a quick look at Beckett who, with grief, told the young lady that her friend had been found dead. The girl shook with sobs while Becket calmly held her.

Beckett then asked her to come to the station to answer a few questions for them. The girl obliged and, after contacting the rest of the team about their lead, they headed off.

* * *

_A/N: This is really a joy to write so far. Hopefully I'm doing this wonderful show justice. Who can resist writing for such charming characters? _

_Well, let me know what you think. This is my first Castle fic, but don't let that be an excuse to go easy on me. I'm definitely no New York native, so I can't be certain about my locations outside of what I can look up online, but be sure to tell what you think if you like, but until then I'll be writing more. :D_

_There will be more to come soon so stay on the lookout for updates.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the phenomenal characters from __Castle__ but I do own this shameful tid bit of story._

**Chapter 2**

**

* * *

  
**

"We were supposed to meet at the convention center before it opened," Jennifer Spectre, the small red head, supplied sadly. Her eyes searched the dimly lit room at the police station. She sat on a small love seat across from Castle and Beckett. Kate was hunched over, her elbows propped on her knees while Castle sat against the back of his chair, feeling sorry for the young girl.

"Who all were you meeting with, just Cassandra?" They had asked for the name of their young victim as they got to the station. Along with her name, the girl gave more information including the victim's age: 20, and the fact that the girl lived alone in a small apartment. There was a crew already there processing the apartment to see if they could find any thing to give them an idea of why Cassandra Grey was killed.

"It was supposed to be me, Greg and Cassandra," she brought a tissue to her eyes and wiped a few tears away gently, "he'll be torn up when he finds out."

"Was Greg her boyfriend?" Castle asked softly. Kate was jotting down information on a small notepad.

"Yeah, we were all part of an online community, but we'd only met a couple of times. We never really had an excuse to see each other until the con came around. Greg was one of the head administrators."

"What kind of community was it?" Kate looked up from her notebook.

"An RP forum," she started and Castle tweaked a brow in interest, "but it was only Spider-man related. We thought it would be fun to go to the con dressed as the characters we play on the board. I was supposed to be Mary Jane." She looked down at the tissue in her hands, folding it and shuffling it around.

"Jennifer, you said that Greg was her boyfriend, do you know his last name and maybe where he lives?"

The girl nodded her head, "his last name is O'Connor, but I've never been to his place before. He didn't show up either, so I just figured they were together."

"Alright, well thank you for your help." The investigative pair stood up from their chairs. "We'll be in touch," Kate continued, handing Jennifer her card before leaving the room with Castle.

"I'll have Esposito and Ryan check out the boyfriend, see if they can get some more pertinent information from him. In the mean time, Lainie's ready in the morgue." Kate shrugged and started down the hall.

"Shouldn't you have someone check out their website?" Castle inquired.

Beckett turned to face him, placing a loose strand of hair behind her ear, "why do you ask?"

"Well, I've checked out a few of my fan communities and forums, and it can get pretty vicious between members who have differing opinions." He put his hands in his pockets casually, "maybe there were some threatening messages exchanged."

"Like what? Disputing who's really slept with you?" Beckett smirked.

"I was referring to what happens in my books, actually." He strolled up to her confidently, "but I had _no_ idea you were the one who started that thread." His grin phased out her aggravated look.

"Whatever. I'll have someone look at it, but first let's see what the body tells us." She walked a bit ahead of him, but he was quick to follow.

"You didn't deny it."

He was met with silence.

* * *

When they arrived in the morgue, Lainie was waiting for them with the body.

Kate had informed Ryan and Esposito of what they learned from Jennifer, and she directed them to find out Greg's address.

Dressed in their blue smocks they approached the table where Cassandra lay.

"So what do you have for us," Detective Beckett asked as she gave a once over of the body. The face was covered with small piece of cloth. Even some sights were too gruesome to see all the time.

"I found traces of fabric in what was left of her mouth which makes me think she was gagged. There's also some mild bruising around her wrists and ankles consistent with being tied up." Lainie walked over to an adjacent counter where she picked up an evidence bag containing one of the victim's clawed, costume gloves. "I found some skin particles under the claws, "she pointed to the glove, "so I sent them to the lab to see if they can get a hit."

"Any evidence of sexual assault?" Kate asked.

"No she was clean, but along with the skin under her nails, I found more to suggest a struggle." She lifted Cassandra's left hand, emphasizing the knuckles, "She landed a good hit on somebody."

"But he landed a better one on her," Castle gestured towards the gunshot wound.

Suddenly, Beckett's phone went off, and she excused herself to take it. After a moment, she closed her phone and put it back in her pocket as she walked back.

"That was one of the investigators at our victim's apartment," She motioned for Castle to follow after she started walking. "Thanks, Lainie. We've gotta go check this out."

* * *

The small, ratty one room apartment was dark and gruesome, an ideal place for a horror movie. Water stains lined the patched walls, and Castle was pretty sure he heard rats next door. Flashes of light beamed from the cameras as the investigation was underway, combing through every inch of the small room.

A small wooden table stood just outside of the kitchenette. The white cabinets were tarnished with blotchy stains.

"When was the last time this place was inspected for code?" Castle asked, not expecting an answer. He carefully stepped passed one of the examiners who was peering at the blood spatter on the accidentally beige walls; which, by the way, were crumbling from a good dose of water damage and improper care.

They made it passed the blood soaked sofa and over to a man who was crouched, looking at a shell casing. He picked it out of the wall with a pair of tweezers and let it drop into a small, sealable bag. He rose up, his black trench coat evened out and when he turned he was met with Beckett and Castle.

"Detective Beckett?" He guessed. The tall, lanky man took off his blue gloves, and adjusted his black rimmed glasses. His hair looked black in the poor lighting, but it was dark brown and spiked up. He offered his hand and after she confirmed with a vertical nod he introduced himself, "I'm Detective Crakk." Beckett grasped his hand in a firm shake while Castle stifled his laughter.

"Pardon him," her brow crumpled together in embarrassment, "he doesn't know the meaning of professional."

"Right," Crakk eyed Rick for a moment before focusing on Detective Beckett. "I just found the shell casing you were missing. It's a .22 caliber by the looks of it." His deep voice cued her to look at the small bag in his grasp, "the tenant came up this morning due to the loud music that was playing from the stereo," He pointed a long finger at a Bose system in the corner of the room. "He'd gotten several complaints, but when he found the room like this he called us in."

"That's a nice stereo for someone who lived in a place like this," Castle remarked.

"Any sign of the gun that was fired from?" She rested her hands on her hips but noticed that Castle was moving towards a laptop on the kitchen counter.

"Should he-"

"He has moments when he knows what he's doing," Kate interrupted the tall detective to ease his mind.

The laptop was high quality, and new, definitely something pricey and unlikely for a person living in such a rundown apartment to own, just like the stereo. The lid was open, and the internet browser was up. The banner at the top of the website depicted Spider-man and Dr. Octopus who were on opposite sides of the title: _Web of Fate._ He scrolled down the page, passing links to related forums and then back up to the top of the page.

"Detective," he ushered Beckett over with a motion of his hand, never taking his eyes off the screen. "I think this is the community." She looked over his shoulder at the page.

"Check it out, new message." She pointed to the inbox link in the navigation bar. Castle clicked it, revealing a mass of messages from the same person, _SHADOW_SPECTRE_.

"From Shadow Spectre to Cat Burglar," Castle read, "I could give you more than that web slinger ever could, but you never listened."

"It's in past tense." Beckett realized, "what's the timestamp on it?"

Castle scanned over the page, "yesterday at seven-thirty eight." His eyes jerked back to the name, "wait a minute. _Spectre_," he thought. "Isn't that Jennifer's last name?"

"You're right," Kate turned back towards Detective Crakk. "Thank you for notifying us. When you're done processing the scene, send us the details." She grabbed a bag from one of the investigators and slid the laptop in. "I'm taking this back with us and putting it on priority."

The lanky detective nodded, "alright. I'll be sure to let you know if we find anything else here to help you out."

With that, they left the apartment, but as they walked down the multiple flights of stairs, Beckett got another call, but this time it was from Ryan.

"Beckett." She answered, "uh huh….yeah we're just leaving the victim's apartment." They continued to walk, finally reaching the exit door, "alright we'll be on our way." She finished her conversation and unlocked the black Crown Victoria that was parked outside. Placing the bagged laptop in the seat behind her, she climbed in the driver's side.

"So we're headed back to the station?" Castle presumed.

"Yeah, they were able to pull more information on Greg O'Connor. Hopefully, after we get that laptop down to the techs they can tell us some more information on the community and the members. I'll have them pull a copy of her inbox for us to look over," she started driving back to the station.

* * *

Standing in front of the bullpen board were Ryan and Esposito. They were adding more details in the form of sticky notes accompanying pictures from the crime scene. There were arrows drawn from one piece of information to another to connect them.

Beckett strolled over to them, "What do you have for me?"

Castle waltzed in with a cup of coffee for his female counterpart, eager to listen in on more details.

"Greg O'Connor, moved here from Ireland four years ago to pursue his dream as a comic book artist. His parents own one of the largest beer breweries in Ireland, making him a very wealthy man." Esposito informed with crossed arms.

"Could explain all of the expensive electronics at her apartment." Castle sipped on his own coffee, but it was a little too hot for him.

"So did you find out where he lives?" Beckett took a large swallow of her coffee, leaving Castle to gawk. "You'll burn your throat that way," she smiled in return as he returned to blowing at his steaming cup of liquid life.

Ryan slipped Beckett a piece of paper detailing the address. "That place would take me three life times to pay off. Luxury high rises in Brooklyn, they're practically penthouses."

Esposito's desk phone rang, so he walked over to take it. While he spoke, he wrote onto a piece of paper. Ryan excused himself to get a cup of coffee.

The phone clanged back to the hook and Esposito rolled his shirt sleeves down, "that was O'Connor's high rise security chief, we told him to give us a call when he got back into the building. He said O'Connor just got back from lunch."

"Alright, let's head out then." Ryan emerged from the break room with a mug of coffee, "come on, guys." He protested, "this is from a fresh pot." Esposito tossed him his jacket, "take it with you then, but spill it in the car this time, and you'll be paying for it."

* * *

_A/N: I'm trying to make this seem like an actual episode of Castle in the way I transition from one thing to another, so hopefully it's coming across in the way I intended. _

_Thanks for all the reviews so far. :D Keep on telling me what you think!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the phenomenal characters from __Castle__ but I do own this shameful tid bit of story._

**Chapter 3**

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**

"Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size; catches thieves just lik-"

"While it's cute and all, could you stop it? This is the-what?-fifth time I've had to hear that verse because it's the only part you know." The brunette detective's hands were firmly planted on the steering wheel. They were almost at their destination and Castle had been singing the same verse over and over for nearly the entire ride.

Intrigued, Castle whirled his eyes in her direction, with a strong, examining expression, "why, Detective, did you just call me cute?" Beckett curled her lips in a smile, eyeing him from her peripherals, "I don't know, did I?" She played.

"Woah, car!" Castle exclaimed, barely catching a speeding van that came from one of the side streets by the luxury high rises they were headed for. Beckett slammed on the brakes just in time to miss them as the speeding car fled, causing Esposito, driving behind them, to do the same. Ryan cursed as his, fortunately lukewarm, coffee spilled onto his jacket, "this was not my fault," he yelled, lifting his hands and, now, half empty mug up to survey the mess.

Beckett looked up; her hair had spilled over her face, so she pulled it away. "Are you alright," she asked her passenger. He grunted while bringing a hand to rub the back of his neck and followed with an answer, "my neck's back in place." He offered a smile, but Beckett was looking through the rear-view mirror to catch a glimpse of Esposito giving a thumb's up.

Luckily, they arrived in one piece with no idea who had nearly collided with them, for no one had caught the plates.

They checked in at the security desk with a flash of a badge and headed for the elevator which was over the top on its own. A mirrored ceiling reflected the light from the sun, pouring through the back, glass elevator wall that provided a tremendous view of the city below.

After many floors in silence, the doors opened to reveal their destination. The first door was propped open, and Castle took the liberty to peek inside as he walked by. "Looking for a retirement home already?" Beckett joked, noticing his wandering eyes. Castle smirked in return, seeing a rather supple and enticing young maid walk out of another room, "only if you work here and wear one of _those_." His eyes caught the girl's every move in the short uniform, but he was abruptly halted by a quick slap to the back of the head.

"Focus, Castle." She famously stated with a slight blush to her cheeks.

Javier and Kevin led the way down the richly colored, tasteful corridor; they were bickering about the coffee spill for some time, but they managed to put it aside. "What's the number again?" Ryan asked with searching eyes. "242. We should be coming up on it," the Latino responded after passing room 233. The doors were all a dark walnut with small lights above the golden numbers that gave each room an identity.

As they approached the door, the pair allowed Beckett to pass by them. She was about to knock, but she heard rustling, scuffing, and finally something fragile breaking with a crash. Quietly, she ordered a stack up on the barely cracked door. Ryan and Esposito had the left side, guns drawn, while Castle and Beckett took the right. Castle put his hands together to simulate a gun as he leaned against the wall behind her. "Not cute," she muttered along with a look that said 'stay behind me'.

She motioned for Esposito to enter, so he burst through yelling, "NYPD! Mr. O'Connor?" The others followed him, pointing their guns while they searched the first, empty room. It was a neatly designed room, very clean and very modern. White carpet adorned the floors, while white fabric hugged the furniture along with red pillows of varying shapes and sizes. Nothing was out of place aside from a broken red vase that had fallen from a mirrored coffee table. On the strikingly red walls were rows upon rows of comic books, encased in glass boxes, but at the very start of those rows, one was missing. However, more noise ushered them towards one of the bedrooms.

Beckett rushed in, Castle in tow, to find a man trying to escape from the balcony. He stood on the high wall of the overhang, over looking the street which was quite a ways down. Unless he was super human, he would die from the fall. Beckett slowly walked towards him, holstering her gun. The air blew the drapes away from the large sliding door before the balcony.

"You don't want to take that jump from this height," she calmly spoke to the man's back as it was all she could see, hoping to reach him. Slowly he turned, realizing there were limited options. Held tightly in his hands was a book of some kind.

"Come on down from the ledge," Beckett smoothly moved forward, towards the scrawny man. His greasy, slightly long hair heavily dragged with the breeze and his puffy hunter-green jacket got even puffier, thanks to the gusts. Castle stayed back, hoping to not intimidate the man or hurt what Beckett was trying to do. The man was shaking, trying hard not to cry, the writer noticed.

Cautiously, the female detective finally made her way to the man and he started to climb down, no resistance or words. She grabbed his arms through the puffed up sleeves and put them slowly behind his back, taking an encased copy of _Marvel #1_ from his grasp as she cuffed him. As they walked out of the room, she handed the comic to Castle.

Assured that Beckett had caught the escapee, Kevin and his partner began scoping the area and checking the expansive, mansion-like apartment over, room by room. Aside from the obvious evidence of breaking and entering, they noticed that, what could only be, Greg O'Connor's bedroom was sealed away by a locked door. They knocked and asked again for Greg, but there was no answer. Fearing that something was wrong, they kicked the door open. To their horror, it revealed Greg O'Connor in a tailored grey suit, hanging by his neck. A black bag was around his head, tied at the neck, just like their original victim. A large pool of blood, beneath the gently swaying body, added color to the immaculately white carpet. A Polaroid was stuck behind the rope which showed Greg's smiling face, yet had the name _Peter Parker_ scribbled beneath it.

Hearing their commotion, Rick, Kate, and the unnamed man happened upon the scene. The cuffed man, stumbled back in a frightened manner, but Beckett restrained him.

"You're under arrest for the murder of Greg O'Connor."

* * *

It hadn't taken long for the M.E. Lainie Parish to arrive. They had taken Greg's body down, and found too many similarities between his murder and the murder of Cassandra Grey, to be coincidence. His face had been chiseled away, but in a more haphazard fashion than in the first crime. "This was done quickly," the coroner remarked to the three detectives and one writer standing over the body. She pointed with her pinky to the jagged edges of skin around the _wound_ opening, and wound was an understatement. "This looks more torn off than cut off. But my guess is the same blade that they took to the first victim's face was used here too."

"Cause of death?" Esposito questioned.

"No gunshot wound like the other, looks like he actually died from being strangled. However, these rope marks around his neck are inconsistent with hanging like he was, so the killer came up behind him first. Killed him the old fashioned way." She stood up to match the height of the others. "If you wanna know more, I'll have to get him to the lab."

Beckett nodded, "Alright. I've got the suspect waiting in the living room, so I'm going to take him down for questioning. Let's go, Castle." She dismissed herself and her partner, but realized he wasn't moving. She knew this meant he was thinking again.

"He didn't do it." Castle stared down at the comic in his hands.

"Don't you think it's a bit early to start second guessing?" She shifted her weight while standing in the door way.

"This door locks from the inside," he gestured towards the bedroom door. "And there's a fire escape outside of that window," this time he pointed towards an open window on the back wall of the large bedroom, "but it only goes down. Not around the building where we found him on the balcony." His partner crossed her arms over her chest, listening. "So rationally, wouldn't you have climbed down the fire escape if you wanted to escape?"

"Maybe he did climb down, but he came back for the comic," Beckett reasoned.

Castle walked up to her, motioning for her to look towards the man they had caught less than an hour ago. He was bobbing, shaking, and wriggling with an agonized expression, "I guarantee that if you hadn't cuffed him, he would be in the fetal position."

"Well, let's say he didn't do it," she looked away from the man on the couch, "why was he here for that?" She pointed towards the comic. "This is _Marvel issue number one, _one of the single most coveted pieces of comic lore by any mega fan. In near mint condition, it would be worth millions," he reported.

Beckett sighed, giving the comic a good look over, then glancing back at the wreck of a man on the couch. "We'll have to consider it, I guess. But, we still have to take him in."

* * *

Esposito and Ryan had stayed back at the crime scene to scope out the details, but in the bright lights of the interrogation room, Beckett and Castle sat across from the skinny man known as Cedric Lawson.

"I didn't kill that guy!" Cedric spoke passionately, but he was visibly shaken. His voice was tense, weak, and pitchy. And while his voice wasn't very deep to begin with, the situation made him seem all the more fragile.

Files were neatly set in front of Detective Beckett's arms on the cold, steely table along with the million dollar comic. "Mr. Lawson, you need to understand that you were found trying to flee the scene of a murder and that makes you look very suspicious," she stated strictly. "We need you tell us why you were at Greg's apartment? Do you know him, or were you just there for this?" Her lean hands pushed the glass case holding the comic along the table to his side.

"I…," Cedric started weakly, hesitant to speak, "I was at home on the computer, role playing with my friends on this site, and then…I get this message," he recalled.

"Was this website called _Web of Fate_?" Castle asked.

Lawson looked towards him in a surprised manner and nodded, "yeah…why?"

"We believe it has something to do with the recent murders." Beckett informed. "But, what did the message say? And do you remember who it was from?"

"My father's father had owned a copy of Marvel issue one that was given to me when I was nine, but it was stolen from me at my twelfth birthday party," he paused, but looked more comfortable, "the person who messaged me somehow knew that, so they gave me that address and the time to show up. They said they had my copy, and told me where it would be and everything. The door was even cracked when I got there. The message was sent by a guest though, so I don't know who it was." Cedric shrugged and looked down, "I had no idea it was Greg's apartment though."

"Is the message still on your computer?" Beckett questioned.

He nodded positively. "If it checks out, you shouldn't be bothered by this anymore, but until we confirm what you've said, don't leave town."

The duo left the room quietly and walked back towards Beckett's desk. Castle took his rightful seat beside it, but Beckett's phone rang before he could start up conversation.

"Beckett," she answered. She went through the motions of the call, before ending it. She sat down and turned towards Castle. "That was Esposito. He said that in addition to scandalous pictures of Cassandra, they found more naked pictures of Jennifer Spectre on his computer. What's more, they found several e-mails from her detailing how much he meant to her. And that van that almost hit us on the way there, was apparently the killer's getaway car, but the building's security cameras weren't at the right angles to catch the driver."

"So jealous girl kills the competition, and then the prize?" Castle sat up in interest.

"I'm not sure, but I think we need to pay her a visit."

* * *

_A/N: So there wasn't a lot of breathing time in this chapter. Hopefully you all like it as well as the small twist at the end, but there's more where that came from. _

_As always, let me know what you think and how I'm doing. I'd like to thank all of my reviewers so far for giving me your input and critiquing some of my errors. :D You're all awesome!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do not own any of the phenomenal characters from __Castle__ but I do own this shameful tid bit of story._

**Chapter 4**

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* * *

  
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Before the crime solving duo could leave the station they were summoned by the lab techs who had examined the laptop belonging to Cassandra Grey. Along with all the hate mail from the forum, there were a couple of instant messenger conversation logs between the victim and Jennifer Spectre, indicating a few things that interested the Detective and even more information that she would use to confront Jennifer with.

Arriving at the nice apartment complex, Castle and Beckett walked inside. They took the stairs as the elevator was down for maintenance. "Pretty nice place for a young woman that lives alone," Castle observed. It was no where close to the luxury high rises of the last murder scene, but these apartments were definitely nice for someone's first place.

Neutral earth tones ran the length of each hall, passing by creamy white doors that gave the place a naturally pleasing atmosphere. Warm hardwood flooring reflected the light from the hall lights ever so slightly.

They reached the door labeled '42' and stopped. Beckett felt uneasy as she reached to knock. The thought that someone would kill over jealousy befuddled her; actually, why anyone would want to kill another, period, confused her. It was why she kept doing what she did, not only for her mother and her own family, but for all the others who wanted answers.

Castle noticed that Kate had zoned out for a bit. Reassuringly, he placed a hand on her shoulder, "you good?" He gave her a warm smile to chase the question. She nodded, and let out a short sigh before raising her hand to knock at the door.

"Jennifer Spectre," she called through the thick wood, "this is Detective Beckett, NYPD."

Spectre didn't waste time in opening the door, "Detective, Mr. Castle, can I help you?" She was wearing a white apron over her clothing and her hair was tied back in a tight ponytail. The rush of air from the open door carried the smell and warmth of cookies baking in the oven.

"Actually, we were wondering if we could come in for a bit," Beckett proposed.

Jennifer looked back towards her kitchen and then hesitantly opened the door the rest of the way, "uh, yeah sure. Just excuse the messy kitchen," the red head smiled a bit, ushering them inside while smoothing out her apron. "Did you find out something new? Or is something wrong?"

"You might want to have a seat," Castle suggested as they all walked towards the seating area in front of the television. "What is it?" The girl developed a frightened demeanor.

After taking a seat on the opposite couch to the young woman, Beckett began, "Greg O'Connor was found dead in his apartment this afternoon." The statement physically sickened Jennifer as tears welled in her eyes, but it was a surprise that she hadn't heard it from the media already.

"His body was found in the same manner as Cassandra's, so we believe the same person killed both of them." Beckett was calm, maybe even slightly soothing as she spoke, but her eyes were firm. Castle stayed quiet, examining the actions of the girl.

Kate pulled two separate pictures from an envelope she was carrying with her. The first was of Cassandra's body hanging from the ceiling of the convention center while the second was of Greg's body hanging in his bedroom. The bags still remained over their faces but the pictures were gruesome enough on their own without all the gore.

"Who…" Jennifer called out weakly, "who would do something like this to them?" She looked towards the pictures presented to her, her hands looming over her mouth as a few tears streamed down her cheeks.

"We believe _you_ had the motive." Castle stated matter-of-factly.

"Me?" Spectre returned, stunned.

"You failed to tell us about your relationship with Mr. O'Connor." Kate started to reference the evidence given to her by the computer lab techs. She pulled out another picture from the envelope, an indecent picture of Jennifer, along with a few pages of emails.

"It was over." Jennifer coldly stated, not needing to pick up the picture or read any of the e-mails. "I loved him, but…" the words lingered on her lips as she looked away from the detective, "he didn't love me. Cassandra was my best friend. I knew it was wrong. And I wanted to call it off, but he lied to me every time we spoke. He told me, he cared about me, wanted to be with me." She dried her eyes, "but I knew…that _I_ was only sex because _she_ wanted to save it for marriage."

"But," Castle hunched over to listen in, "she found out?"

"Cassandra confronted you with an instant message." Beckett stated, not needing to pull out a copy of the conversation. She already had the girl talking.

"After she called us out, I went over to her apartment to clear the air and explain myself. She was dressed in that stupid outfit and she scratched me." Jennifer lifted her right blue sweater sleeve and peeled back a large bandage. "She tried to fight me over it, but I told her that I had ended it the day before because I cared more about her. I would never hurt her like that!" She pointed to the picture of Cassandra's body hanging from the rafters.

There was intensity to her words even though she wasn't speaking very loudly, but whether she was emotional for herself or actually emotional over the loss of her friend was a mystery, but the pair seemed to sense some truth to it.

Kate took a moment to let the emotion settle in the room before she grabbed another piece of paper from the envelope in her lap. The smell of cookies had dissipated as Beckett presented the messages from the forum. "Are you familiar with the name Shadow Spectre, Jennifer?" Spectre sifted her fingers through her bangs that fell to the side, "that's my brother's account." Beckett handed her the message log and she scanned her eyes over it.

"But I don't get what this is about."

"We think that your brother may have been harassing Cassandra through the forum, maybe even threatening her." Castle resolved.

"A lot of people did that though. No one really liked the way Cassandra portrayed Black Cat, sometimes she got into trouble on her own."

"How do you mean?" Beckett asked.

"She would always lure in men, both them and their characters, and practically tease them to death. A lot of times it even ticked off Greg. People got frustrated by her, but she played just like Black Cat would have. Promiscuous and flirty with no attachments unless it was to Spider-man, which is why Greg never worried much about it."

"So these," Beckett referenced two more photos in the envelope, the Polaroids found on the bodies. "Were meant to mark the characters they played on the forum?"

The door creaked open and a somewhat older, short man walked through, putting his coat on the rack next to the door. Detective Beckett and Castle stood, leaving Beckett's question unanswered. The man sharply looked over towards the two he was unfamiliar with, "Jen, you didn't tell me we were having guests." He smiled, and took off an instant film camera, carefully putting it away in a case at the closet by the rack.

"I'm sorry," Jennifer stood, "Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, this is my brother William."

"Detective, eh?" William mused quietly while walking over to the standing trio, "to what do we owe the pleasure." His eccentric voice called Beckett to attention that he was significantly shorter than her, even slightly pudgy. A small white bandage was taped to his right cheek bone and his face was a bit flushed.

"We were asking your sister some questions regarding our ongoing investigation." Beckett reported before picking up the papers and pictures that belonged in the envelope.

The shorter man cringed slightly and rubbed his eye while searching in his pocket for a handkerchief, "pardon me, I'm just getting used to contacts." He smiled again and brought the white cloth to dry his moistened eyes. "Well I do hope she was helpful, from what I've heard of the case from the media, it's an awfully sad day in New York." His arm wrapped around his sisters waist and he gave her a slight squeeze.

"Greg and I started the forum together, worked on it together, everything. He was a bit frustrating at times, leaving me to tend to it when things got rough, but I couldn't have asked for a better partner even if we did play each other's arch nemesis." William appeared saddened but managed a smile through his downcast expression.

"We're truly sorry to both of you," Beckett offered their condolences. "We'll be in touch, Jennifer."

* * *

"She didn't do it either." Beckett threw her jacket down on the back of her office chair feeling frustrated. "Why are we hitting a wall like this?" She flopped down in her chair and stared towards her partner through the dim light. Ryan and Esposito were likely playing Madden together and most of the others in their office were gone for the night as well. Besides Beckett's desk, the only other light came from the case board's dim lamps that sat atop it.

"Well think about it," Castle tried to reassure, "we know that the killer has to be a member of the forum because they knew the victim's identities there." He sat back in his own chair.

"But we only know of five of the members who live within the area, and two of them are dead, and as far as Jennifer and Lawson are concerned, they both check out. Lainie got the tests back on the skin found under our first victim's claws and they were a match to Spectre. As for Lawson they were able to confirm the details of the message he spoke with us about."

"So we're left with the brother?"

"I guess so, but we don't have any hard evidence against him to get a conviction."

"Jennifer did say that Shadow Spectre was William though." Castle verified.

"Yeah but she also said that a lot of people had been sending messages like that, maybe he was just another guy that got caught up on Cassandra." Kate speculated. She ran her hands through her hair and breathed out a heavy sigh.

"You're kind of cute when you're frustrated," Castle quietly analyzed. "Not that you should be frustrated more often," he added quickly, shaking his head.

Kate averted her gaze from him to hide her creeping blush, she didn't really have a good comeback for him at the time, but he did know how to brighten her mood sometimes.

Castle glanced at his watch and saw that is was ten-thirty. "I think I'm gonna head out." He noticed the effect he had on her, and didn't want to interrupt her work. "Call me if you need anything."

He started down the line of desks up from hers, "Castle," she called and he stopped. "What would Heat do?" Kate twirled a pen beneath her fingers.

"She'd probably go home, think about going out to pick up a guy for the night, but stay inside because she's got a certain someone on her brain. She might think about the case after a glass or two of wine, while she's in the bath, and maybe before she goes to bed early, so she can wake up with a clearer head tomorrow." He smiled, but didn't stay too long. He didn't want to give her enough time to sift through what he'd said.

* * *

The cozy office was lit up just enough for a certain writer to see his key board. He glanced at the clock on the bottom of the screen reading five forty-five. He'd really been writing for that long? The whole case had gotten him into the mood for writing about Heat. It had twists and turns and now a dead end and though he was excited, after he thought about and took the time to notice the clock, he was tired.

He gently closed the laptop's lid and set it down on his desk after he heard the soft lock from the lid, but he heard quiet knocking on the other side of his closed door. "Come in," he yawned out after stretching in his swivel chair.

"Dad," Castle smiled, seeing his daughter come in, in her pajamas. Not a single red hair was out of place on her head, despite just coming from bed.

"What are you doing up so late…or early, Pumpkin?" He asked sleepily, but glad to see her.

"I couldn't sleep much," she replied with a shrug, "but I saw your light on and since I didn't get a chance to see you much yesterday, I thought I'd see why you were up."

"Oh yeah? This police work can be tough, but I was writing and lost track of time." his smile lasted until another yawn, "so why can't you sleep?"

"I'm frustrated." Alexis put it simply, taking a seat in the chair opposing the desk.

"By?" Her father pried.

"Well did you ever get so mad at someone you were working with that you wanted to see them disappear? I know it sounds bad, but me and my friend Regina are working on this math project where we have to chart out our daily caffeine intakes, and then prove the graph with a series of equations, but every time things seem difficult, she sort of dumps the work all on me, and she forgot to chart her last four daily intakes, so I'm just frustrated." The red head spoke fast and with a lot hand motions to get her message across, but when she was finished, she carried a worried look.

Castle nodded, until something clicked in his mind, "I don't know how you do it, but thank you!" His daughter slightly jolted back in surprise, but he jumped up out of his chair, and hugged her quickly. "I've got to make a phone call, but you should talk to your partner about it. Let her know how you feel, otherwise she's going to keep using you like that." Castle smiled after his concise fatherly advice, "you should get back to bed and not worry about it." He added. He kissed her forehead and walked out of the office leaving Alexis to wonder what it was that she awakened in him.

Rick grabbed the nearest phone in the kitchen and dialed up Beckett. He was met with a groggy response, "do you know what time it is?" Beckett slurred while turning towards the clock, it was a few minutes shy of six in the morning.

"Put on a fresh pot and meet me at the station," said Castle while slipping on his jacket.

Beckett sat up with a yawn and adjusted the strap of her tank top, "What's this about?"

"I just burst through that wall like the Kool-aid man." Rick stated in triumph before breathing out an 'Oh yeah' to mock the famous mascot. He ended the call in a rush and headed for the door; leaving Kate to stare at the phone awkwardly, then back at the clock. Shaking her head, she freed herself of the blankets and got ready to meet the wise man.

As Castle shut the door, Martha trotted down the stairway tiredly in a red silk robe. "What's all the fuss about? Can't a girl get her beauty rest?" She smiled towards Alexis who was leaning against the office door.

"I think Dad just broke his _big _case." She reported with a smirk.

"I swear, they should pay your father for his keen abilities, gets them from me, you know?"

* * *

_A/N: I don't know how many of you guys toggle with your settings, but I've found that I prefer reading on a half page size with the third 'A' selected, what do you think? Makes it feel more like a book to me. Just something I thought I'd share. It'd been so long since I had been on the site that I didn't notice all of the changes they made. _

_So as far as story goes, the next chapter will more than likely be the last! :D I'm a bit sad about it, but since my intentions are to be like an episode, it's gotta bite it soon, y'know? Also, I couldn't have a story without a self-absorbed comment from Martha. :] The characters are so great to write for haha.  
_

_As usual, hope everyone's doing well, and that my story is still pleasing. Thanks again to all of my readers and reviewers for the encouragement. :D_


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